Abstract:
OK, University of Bridgeport, here's your mission. Design and build a camera that can transmit video over large distances in real time. Oh, it has to fit into something the size of a soda can, and, by the way, the thing will be flying through the air at about 150 miles per hour.

"It's really cool," said UB Engineering School Dean Tarek Sobh, about the problem his school has been tasked as part of a $2.4 million U.S. Army project.

The university is a member of The Applied Nanotechnology Consortium, which will build an unmanned aerial vehicle for the Army that is smaller than today's drones used in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere. The funding was part of the Defense Appropriations Bill that was signed into law in December. The project includes the University of Hartford, the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology Inc., the University of Connecticut and four private-sector companies, including Kaman Precision Products. New Jersey-based Imperial Machine & Tool Co. also is involved in the project.